Rig Rundown: The Black Angels

This instrument started it all. This is Christian Bland’s main baby and he’s had it since the band formed in the early 2000s. He scored this 1978 Rickenbacker 345 on eBay after getting his SG stolen from bandmate Alex Maas’ house. Being a big Beatles fan, he always wanted a Rickenbacker and had to settle for this model even though John used 325 and 325-12 models. (Lefties can’t be too picky.) He uses D’Addario Pure Nickel (.011 sets) on all his guitars and shreds with Dunlop Orange Tortex .60 mm picks.

Following along the same lines, here is a Lennon-approved Epiphone Casino that is prominently used on the band’s first two albums, but only sees action for “Bloodhounds on my Trail” and rides in open-G tuning.

His self-proclaimed second go-to is this Gretsch Country Gentleman that gets used on the band’s earliest work (replacing the Casino for the most part).

His most recent buy is a 2006 Gibson Custom Shop 1962 SG Les Paul Standard Reissue. He added the Vibrola tailpiece/tremolo after the fact.

While this is currently in Christian Bland’s boat, this ’60s Eko violin bass is the band’s instrument used by several members throughout a set.

Starting his career on a Vox combo, Christian Bland eventually landed on the Fender Twin Reverb reissue that has been outfitted with a third tube to power the amp’s reverb section.

Christian Bland loves two things more than anything else when it comes to pedals: fuzz and reverb. His board starts with a TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Mini that hits an Analogman Peppermint Fuzz, an Analogman Sun Face BC108, a vintage Russian Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, an AcidFuzz Acid Fuzzer, a Catalinbread Fuzzrite, an Ibanez Tube Screamer, a Danelectro Back Talk Reverse Delay, a Gurus Echosex 2°, an Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, an AcidFuzz Repeater, a Vox wah, a Dawner Prince Electronics Boonar, a Third Man Bumble Fuzz, and a Big Tone Music Brewery Maggie.

The band’s other left-handed guitarist Jake Garcia’s main ride is a 1971 Gibson ES-335. It was a player’s guitar so it has had several refret jobs, new tuners, graphite saddles, and period-correct Throbak P.A.F.-style pickups in it. You may notice the battle scars of four-removed switches. That was from single-coil taps that Jake got rid of to get the guitar as close as possible to its early ’70s roots.

Jake Garcia’s only other guitar for this run is a Fender Kurt Cobain Jaguar that was updated with DiMarzio Super Distortion humbuckers.

Like his left-handed brethren on the opposite side of the stage, Jake Garcia goes to work each night using a Fender Twin Reverb reissue.

The only righty guitarist in the band, Kyle Hunt, rocks with this 1965 Fender Jazzmaster he bought years ago at Austin Vintage. He changed out the tuners and added a Mastery bridge, otherwise he believes it’s stock as the day it was made. He goes with either D’Addario or Gabriel Tenorio (.011 sets) and strums away with Dunlop Yellow Tortex .73 mm picks.

Kyle Hunt’s second main instrument is this 50th Anniversary Fender Jaguar reissue.

And offset-guitar god Thurston Moore even gave Kyle Hunt’s Jag a blessing.

Kyle Hunt’s main bass is this 1972 Fender Jazz model.

For guitar time, Kyle Hunt plugs into an actual 1968 Fender Twin Reverb combo. He outfitted it with a new baffle and 80-watt Celestion speakers so it can handle guitar and keyboards.

When Kyle Hunt is laying down the low-end thunder, he goes through this Ampeg SVT-VR that powers an 8x10 cab.

Chris Kies has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. He's now the multimedia manager maintaining the website and social media accounts, coordinating Rig Rundown shoots (also hosting and/or filming them) and product demos, and occasionally writing an artist feature, all while still shooting/editing video for NAMM-show coverage. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies.

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